[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 156 (Wednesday, December 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2478-E2479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE CLASS ACT GROUP OF MILITARY RETIREES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 7, 2005

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, today is the 64th anniversary of the 
bombing of Pearl Harbor, the infamous day in 1941 that led us into 
World War II. It is appropriate that I rise today to honor the military 
retirees' grassroots organization known as the Class Act Group. After 
nearly ten years of citizen advocacy, urging Congress to fully restore 
their promised military health care benefits, this noble group of 
warriors has decided to call it a day and close its offices.
  CAG's roots date back to July 16, 1996, when attorney George E. Day 
filed a law suit in Federal Court in Pensacola, Florida on behalf of 
retired Air Force Colonels William O. Schism and Robert Reinlie. The 
suit alleged breach of contract with military retirees over the age of 
65 years by the failure of the U.S. to provide the military medical 
care it had promised.
  But George Day is not just any lawyer. Col. George ``Bud'' Day 
(Retired) is a veteran of more than 30 years service in the Armed 
Forces of the United States. He joined the Marine Corps in 1942 and 
served 30 months in the South Pacific as a noncommissioned officer. He 
received an appointment as a Second Lieutenant in the National Guard in 
1950. He was called to active duty in the Air Force in 1951. He served 
two tours in the Far East as a fighter-bomber pilot during the Korean 
War.
  In April 1967, Colonel Day was assigned to the 31st Tac Fighter Wing 
at Tuy Hoa Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. Shot down over North Vietnam 
on August 26, 1967, he spent 67 months as a Prisoner of War. Colonel 
Day was the only POW to escape from prison in North Vietnam and then to 
be recaptured by the Viet Cong in the South. He is also credited with 
living through the first ``no chute'' bailout from a burning jet 
fighter in England in 1955.
  Colonel Day holds every significant combat award. He is the nation's 
most highly decorated officer since General Douglass MacArthur. He 
holds nearly seventy military decorations and awards of which more than 
fifty are for combat. Most notable are the Medal of Honor, the 
Air Force Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the 
Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 
nine Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star for Valor with two Oak Leaf 
Clusters, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart with three Clusters and the 
POW ribbon. He wears twelve Campaign Battle Stars.

  So, Mr. Speaker, Col. Day's long, distinguished record shows that he 
was a fighter in the field defending his comrades and country and, I 
can attest, he has been just as determined a fighter in the courtroom, 
too. He recruited his own army of grassroots soldiers who, in town 
meetings and over the Internet, gathered together to exercise their 
constitutional freedoms to fight for their rights, just as Thomas 
Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and all the Founding Fathers 
imagined they would.
  The CAG suit filed in 1996 was based on the fact that agents of the 
Federal Government--including military recruiters, active duty members 
of the uniformed services, and other government officials--routinely 
promised that the government would provide lifetime health care to 
military retirees and their dependents if they served a career of at 
least 20 years in uniformed service.
  The promise of lifetime care was made and fulfilled for generations, 
but until 1956 Congress had never passed a statute that specified what 
level of care would be provided. On December 7, 1956 a new law took 
effect with a provision that provided for health care at military 
facilities on a ``space available'' basis. This new law had the 
practical effect of defining and limiting the Federal Government's 
commitment to military retiree health care, by conditioning such care 
on space availability.
  In other words, after 1956, health care that had been promised and 
routinely delivered for years was no longer assured. As military bases 
began to close and downsize, the availability of health care became 
more and more limited. Subsequent laws completely removed Medicare-
eligible military retirees from the military health care system.
  The 1956 law ``changed the rules in the middle of the game'' for 
military retirees who entered the service prior to December 7, 1956. 
When they agreed to enter the service, they had promises--a verbal 
contract--of lifetime health care that routinely were fulfilled. When 
they left the service 20 or more years later, they lived under a new 
set of rules. In short, the health care rug was pulled out from under 
them.
  On November 18, 2002, a Federal Appeals Court ruled that only 
Congress can authorize the level of health care the government will 
provide to military retirees; therefore, promises made by military 
recruiters or government officials were not binding. On June 2, 2003, 
the Supreme Court declined to consider Col. Day's appeal of the ruling, 
putting an end to the law suit.
  Although the Appeals Court did not rule in favor of the plaintiffs, 
the language of the Court ruling was very clear that the plaintiffs had 
won a moral victory:

       Accordingly, we must affirm the district court's judgment 
     and can do no more than hope Congress will make good on the 
     promises recruiters made in good faith to plaintiffs and 
others of the World War II and Korean War era--from 1941 to 1956, when 
Congress enacted its first health care insurance act for military 
members, excluding older retirees. . . .

       We cannot readily imagine more sympathetic plaintiffs than 
     the retired officers of the World War II and Korean War era 
     involved in this case. They served their country for at least 
     20 years with the understanding that when they retired they 
     and their dependents would receive full free health care for 
     life. The promise of such health care was made in good faith 
     and relied upon. Again, however, because no authority existed 
     to make such promises in the first place, and because 
     Congress has never ratified or acquiesced to this promise, we 
     have no alternative but to uphold the judgment against the 
     retirees' breach-of-contract claim. . . .
       Perhaps Congress will consider using its legal power to 
     address the moral claims raised by Schism and Reinlie on 
     their own behalf, and indirectly for other affected retirees.
  Mr. Speaker, CAG and the nationwide grassroots group did in fact win 
a substantial legislative victory. In 2000, Congress responded to an 
intense national grassroots campaign waged by military retirees by 
enacting Tricare for Life (TFL), which provides health care to 
Medicare-eligible military retirees (generally age 65 or older). TFL 
did not go all the way to fulfill the government's promise of lifetime 
health care for our Nation's warriors, but it was a substantial step 
forward in that effort.
  The military retirees grassroots group also actively encouraged 
Congress to address the unfulfilled health care needs of many younger 
military retirees who find they are not well served by the military 
health care system known as Tricare Standard, a plan for retirees who 
do not live near military bases that could otherwise provide their 
promised military health care.
  Mr. Speaker, the men and women at the core of the Class Act Group 
have grown old serving their country. They were heroes in World War II, 
Korea and Vietnam. And they were heroes in the courtroom and in the 
halls of government fighting for their rights.
  They have fought the good fight, but as good soldiers they know when 
it is time to regroup. Even with the advent of TFL these grassroots 
warriors kept fighting for full restoration of their promised health 
care. But they know that budget battles in Congress have gotten 
tougher, that new generations of

[[Page E2479]]

wounded veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting for 
even basic health care, let alone health care in their distant golden 
years.
  And there are other battles that need to be fought by these old 
warriors. Floyd Sears, one of the hardiest fighters on the grassroots 
battlefront, the leader of the Internet campaign for the restoration of 
military retiree health care, saw his home in Biloxi, Mississippi, 
destroyed by hurricane Katrina. He is living in an RV powered by a 
generator as he oversees the rebuilding of his house. Jim Whittington, 
Floyd's best friend and comrade, lost electricity in his Laurel, 
Mississippi, home for almost a month. He is rebuilding his Internet 
business. Col. Day is over 80 years old now and is ready to move on and 
support our new generation of veterans.
  Yes, Mr. Speaker, the grassroots warriors have fought the good fight. 
As the Class Act Group closes its doors, we should honor them and thank 
them for all they have done for our country. They will always be heroes 
to me.

                          ____________________